Scarlet Obsession
by InsanePenman
Summary: Kurt spies on Wanda. Mayhem ensues. IP still can't think up good titles.
1. Of Elfin Espionage

Kurt Wagner was a mutant with many ways to work off anxiety. He was never one to seek out the company of his companions when something upset him, instead inevitably retreating to his room, the Danger Room, or a tree on the Mansion's grounds far enough away from the building that any searching for him would neglect to pass by. It was only in such solitude that he could find various ways to take his mind off of his worries. Sometimes he listened to whatever music he had on hand until he was so caught up in it that he didn't think of what it was that had bothered him. Others he brought out his rapier and had at whatever opponents were at hand, be they imaginary or the product of the Danger Room's systems. Still others, he just sat and talked to God. These talks varied from prayer, to almost companionable discussion, to outright arguments that sometimes even ended with the German yelling to the skies in anger. Whatever he did, it worked. They were all great ways to throw off the stress that burned the life of a young, fuzzy, blue elf.

And, now, apparently, he was being introduced to the exception that proved the rule. The elf sat amongst an open grove encircled by trees, rapier lying near his hand and CD player set off to the side. He'd tried talking to God when he'd first come outside about an hour and a half ago. God hadn't answered. Kurt hadn't expected Him to. He never did. But usually Kurt was left with the feeling that up there somewhere, God was looking down upon him and giving him the strength to persevere. Today, he hadn't.

He was stressed and confused, and nothing he did was helping! He'd tossed it over in his head a few million times, but he couldn't come up with any answers. It had all started a few days ago...

He'd been walking home from school after getting left behind thanks to an hour's worth of detention for constant tardiness, and had passed by the Boarding House. He'd started to hurry by, not wanting to get involved in anything, but then he'd caught a glimpse of _her_. Wanda Maximoff. The Scarlet Witch.

He hadn't noticed just how attractive she was until just then, just how fast his heart started to beat when she passed by, though he hadn't been quite sure whether that was because of this attractiveness of the angry way she glared at him as he passed by. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he was very, _very _attracted to her. The thoughts of how odd this was...that he, Kurt Wagner, lover of the fair damsel in distress, could be so suddenly stricken by such a powerful, dark, mysteriously feminine figure...would come later. But still, he needed to be getting back to the Mansion.

Which was why he was somewhat surprised to find himself sitting in a tree near her window fifteen minutes later. Technically, he remembered sneaking over to and scaling the tree...it was the "why" part that stumped him. So Wanda was good looking! That wasn't any reason to do something this insane over it! There wasn't an ugly girl at the Mansion, and he never did anything _this _stupid around them. At least, not without it being public. And this wasn't his zany, over the top kind of stunt. This was reminiscent of something a stalker might do. Still, he sat perched there, slipping back into the heavy shadows the tree's branches cast, and deactivating his inducer so that he could blend in with them.

She'd come up to the room only a few minutes later, muttering under her breath about Toad...the window was open just enough for him to hear her. He'd stayed there, perfectly still, as she'd went about her business, writing in what he presumed was a diary, reading in a book, and, once, leaving and coming back with food. He had sat there for at least an hour, knowing well that he was already late for Logan's afternoon training session. Still, that mad little bit of his mind wouldn't listen to reason.

He hadn't left until she had started to undress. Even an insane elf was still chivalrous enough to know watching her go about _that_ was wrong.

He'd ended up completely missing the training session that afternoon, and had been rewarded by an extra one before bed every night that week. Oddly enough, in the back of his mind, part of him still felt it was worth it. Which only reinforced, really, that the back of his mind needed serious help.

He'd gone back every day since, and he still wasn't sure why. He tried to write it off as wanting to know something more about her, since none of the X-Men could make heads or tails of her, with the possible exception of the adults. And probably even fewer knew what she was like after what Magneto had done to her. No one had really seen her after that...apparently she stayed around the Boarding House all day, every day. It didn't seem like much of a life...not much of a life at all...

And, then, he'd gotten the "why" to that question just today. It was Saturday, and he'd slipped over to the Boarding House and Wanda's window right after the afternoon training session, only to find her in her room once again. She was always in her room, or so it seemed. The rest of the Brotherhood wasn't there.

He sat there for only a few minutes when she had started writing in her diary...and reading along as she wrote. Once again, logic, not to mention morality, told him he ought to stop listening in. It was an invasion of privacy! It was wrong! Horribly, horribly wrong! But still, he sat there, watching and listening as she wrote "out-loud".

Apparently he'd caught her in the middle of an entry. "...I don't mind being left here alone. Not really. The minute they show up I want them gone, after all. I just can't stand _why _they leave me here. They're afraid of me. And, really, that's a good thing, usually. If it was just them, it would be great! But it's not. _Everyone's_ afraid of me. It isn't just these morons...it's the X-Men and even people that don't know me. And its not really so bad, but, sometimes, I wish that they weren't. Wish that I didn't _have _to throw hex bolts at everyone to get them to quit bothering me, or that I wasn't a mutant, or that I didn't help my idiot brother and the rest of them blast Xavier's students. Every once in a while, when my hex bolts have done their job and I'm finally alone, I can't help but think, 'This can't be worth it. This can't be all there is to my life...scaring off people just so I can be lonely.' I mean, I can't stand Pietro and the rest of them, but I wish I had someone to talk to at least."

Then, with a look of fury, she'd exclaimed, grown sick of sounding angsty and whiny to even herself, "Oh, I don't know!" and hurled the book away with a hex bolt...where it promptly burst into flames and sailed through the window, sending little bits of glass everywhere. Including on Kurt, who yelled, "Ow!" Wanda had been surprised, to say the least, when the tree outside her window gave a yelp of pain, and rushed to it. Just in time to catch a glimpse of Kurt's yellow eyes before he teleported away as fast as he could.

And that had left him back at the Mansion, with a troubled mind, a burdened conscience, and an empty stomach. Which, for an elf with an accelerated metabolism, was a very bad thing. So he'd hurriedly procured some snacks, and then, hunger satiated, had ended up out here, trying to fix the former two of his problems with little to no success.

What bothered him the most was the little that the logical portion of his mind had realized. Or, at least, he pretended it had just realized it. Really, he'd known since that first day...he had a crush on the Scarlet Witch. A childish case of puppy love, the kind where you realize how much you're attracted physically and the emotional connection seems to follow immediately. What was worse...he had no earthly idea _why_. He had Amanda, for God's sake! They were supposed to be in love and eventually settle down to raise a family of their own, which her parents would grow to support, even if they did fear and hate him now. He certainly _wasn't _supposed to develop feelings for another, especially not when he knew all of nothing about said other! And _certainly _not when said other was Pietro Maximoff's sister and a member of the Brotherhood! He was Nightcrawler, heroic swashbuckler! An X-Man! Not some pathetic teenager who clung to every little hormonal impulse!

He felt like rolling over and dying, but, instead, he stood and collected all the stuff he'd brought out with him. With a bamf, he was back in his room, where he dumped the stuff on his bed with a sigh and a deep frown before wandering out into the hall to go get another snack. Maybe food would take his mind off of his pain...

He was about halfway to the Kitchen when someone called from the Living Room, "Kurt, phone!" He called back, "I'll get it in here!" Then he promptly picked up the kitchen phone and pulled it to his ear, fully expecting to here Amanda or his mother's voice.

He really wasn't expecting to hear Wanda say with cold, barely restrained fury, "Why were you outside my window?"


	2. Telephone Conversations And Dressing the...

(A/N: Shockingly, I'm actually updating this and really, honestly intend to try to keep it updated, though I may 'port the fic over to , if formatting bothers me here...in any case...hope ya enjoy!)

"I...I..." The stammering lack of response from the other end of the phone was slowly but surely driving Wanda to wonder if a hex bolt could carry all the way along a phone line, perhaps making possible the age old dream of reaching through the phone and strangling someone. To say she was upset was something of an understatement...Magneto's little mind tricks had definitely given her less of a tendency towards rage, but Kurt's invasion of her privacy had brought it back in full for the moment. That little blue monster had been outside her window for who knows how long! Watching her! He could've seen _anything! _The window hadn't been shut so tight...he could've _heard _anything! In short, Wanda was pissed, to the point that she had accidentally shattered one of the Boarding House's few, remaining, intact windows on the way to the phone. Speaking of which...she would have to make sure Lance hadn't done anything illegal to actually pay the bills this month, since it, amongst other basics, was actually functioning.

She wasn't sure, and made a mental note to check that after she got done chewing out the elf at hand.

"Well?" Wanda hissed into the phone, rolling her eyes up at the ceiling. Fuzzbutt was brave enough to play voyeur outside her window but didn't have the heart to face his just desserts. "Why were you outside my window?!"

"Ahm...ach...it's just..." Kurt, on the other end of the line, was trying desperately to calm himself and reply intelligibly. But how could he? He had barely worked out the truth for himself minutes ago! Hell, he hadn't even gotten around to actually admitting it_ to_ himself. Finally, he decided to go with the excuse he was still carrying around in his heart. "I'm sorry. It's just that...well...none of us really know that much about you, ja? We haven't seen or heard anything from you, except for when you blasted us in the mall that night. Or, well...for me, when I helped..."

He trailed off, realizing she might not remember anything about that. Best to mention that on less hostile ground...though, Toad had probably already explained things, if she didn't. Right?

"Helped what?" the Scarlet Witch growled, making Kurt cringe yet again. She sounded like she help such abject hatred for him, over this one little incident. Okay, it was a big incident, but still! What hurt more was that this hurt at all! She was a member of the Brotherhood! They were_ supposed _to be enemies! ...The poor, furry boy wasn't quite sure how Kitty had stood it all. _Maybe I could ask her and beg for a bit of secrecy...but, back to the matter at hand._..

"Nothing, Wanda. I was for a moment. Your call was sudden and all. But, anyway...I was just...very curious about you. You don't really seem that much like the rest of the Brotherhood. Or maybe you do, ja? How would I know? We see Pietro and Fred and the others enough to know about them, but you..."

"That doesn't give you the right to hang outside of my room window, you sick freak!" Wanda heaved a heavy sigh and ran her hand forcefully through her hair.

"Nein! That's not...I didn't mean anything like that! I swear, Wanda, I never saw anything except you hanging around your room, fully clothed. I would never...please, you can't believe that I would ever do anything like that! You can't!" Kurt was pleading...the idea that she thought so lowly of him was making his stomach roll.

..._Melodramatic, much? _Wanda wondered, her anger satiated a bit from the sudden dose of confusion and the cringing tone on the other end of the line. "Well...how would I know what you wouldn't do? Like you said, we never really see each other..."

"Right!" Kurt gladly took the bit of agreement and ran. "So, I was just curious...and I've realized how horribly wrong I was, trying to get rid of that curiousity by spying on you. I'm so sorry...it won't happen again."

The eager tone with which he undertook his apologies made them sound somewhat glib, no matter how sincerely Kurt was pouring them...which sparked Wanda's ire once more. Only this time, it held something of a crueler temper. The fuzzy pervert wanted to know about her? Fine. Human...or was what she was longing for, wasn't it? She'd give him a real scare. "Alright, apology accepted."

Then her tone turned devious. "Still, I was thinking, Kurt...it really is true that I never get to talk to any of you at the Institute. But, all those people trying to recruit me...ugh. I don't think I could put up with that. Not right now at least. _So..._why don't you come here? The boys are going out for the evening again, around eleven. You can stop by, we can talk or whatever it is normal people do."

The intended shock wasn't lost on Kurt. "I...I...I'm not sure I could do that, Wanda. Curfew's at eleven, and I need the sleep. Tomorrow's Saturday; we have to be up early for a training session, and I've already been late for one this week. I really can't afford to miss another."

"Oh...well, if you can't come..." She let the sentence trail off, almost threatening, and the fuzzy-elf definitely sensed the impending doom. If he didn't agree, she would hate him. There would never be another chance at companionship, even though it was companionship that he shouldn't be yearning for. He paused to ponder the pros and cons at such length that Wanda nearly hung up. _Ach...since when did I pay so much attention to the rules, anyway?_

"No, that's alright, Wanda. No one will notice if I miss curfew...and there's always coffee, ja?" he chuckled weakly, hoping she couldn't sense his nervousness on the other side of the phone. It was definitely being broadcast on his side...his tail was lashing about, he was pacing the length of the room with the cordless phone and just generally making it obvious that this phone call was causing the blue German a great deal of stress. "You said eleven, right?"

"...Ja." Wanda echoed, shaking his head in slight amusement. She could just see him...probably about to have a heart attack, barely hanging onto the phone. "Eleven. I'll see you then." And, with that, she quite unceremoniously hung up, leaving Kurt staring at the phone for a moment. Finally, he set his own on the base, starting towards the door...when Kitty's upper body appeared through the kitchen wall, regarding him curiously.

"Hey, Fuzzy? Was that _Wanda_ on the phone, asking for you?"

Kurt stopped halfway out the opposite door, stifling a whimper of pain. Of all the times for someone to eavesdrop on him...let alone someone like Kitty, who always seemed to know when he was hiding something. Still, he had wanted to talk to her... "Ahm...ja."

"What did she want?" Kitty's tone was teasingly suspicious...lilting in the soft singsong of highschool weedling. She already thought she knew his secret and just wanted to hear it from him.

"Nothing, Katzchen. Just...I bumped into her today, on the way home. Nothing important." the elf lied through his clenched teeth. She would despise him if she knew the truth...that Kurt Wagner, supposedly the world's most chivalrous fuzzy elf, could ever play Peeping Tom outside of someone's room. And if she found out he was entertaining ideas of meeting Wanda tonight? Or about his little crush on the Scarlet Witch? Her image of him would turn around dramatically...he'd go from being her best friend as the sweet, playful elf to being the slime on the bottom of her shoe as the two-timing, wretched demon. No, he couldn't tell Kitty.

"Oh...really? 'Cause it sounded to me like you were apologizing for something...and then making a date?"

"I...I...you shouldn't be eavesdropping, Katzchen." Kurt sighed, deflating and defeated.

"And _you _shouldn't be going behind Amanda's back." Kitty's tone was more serious now...she was rather certain that last line from him was equivalent to a complete admission of guilt. "Especially with the_ Scarlet Witch_. Jeez...who was it that gave me tons of grief over Lance, just because he was Brotherhood?"

"Scott. I gave you tons of grief over him because he's an Arschloch." Kurt grumbled. "And I'm not going behind Amanda's back. I...it's just...well...it's not like that."

"Oh? And what is it like, Fuzzy?" She arched an eyebrow at him, and he felt every little bit of strength in him that was holding onto his secrets fade away.

"Well...it's like this..."

Kitty had been nicer than Kurt had expected, particularly after she had realized how much this was weighing on him. She had listened attentively for a few moments, before leading him gently to her room when it occurred to her that the kitchen was a rather...public...place to be discussing such things. She had been kind...understanding...and reasonable. An admonishment against going for Wanda without ending things with Amanda had been given gently but firmly...and Kurt had quite eagerly explained that he would never do such a thing, barring the possibility of telepathic suggestions. And then...she had demanded, in exchange for her silence, to be allowed to dress him for his meeting with Wanda.

"Kitty, there's really no need to go through all this trouble...it's not even a date!" Kurt pleaded from behind his bathroom door...they had both retired to his room so that she could ransack his closet for a proper "outfit".

"Then what you wear is probably even more important. You want to look casual but open to the possibility of more than casual." Kitty replied with a slight shrug, even though he couldn't see. "Now get out of there before I phase in and drag you out!"

"No, I don't! I'm still with Amanda! I don't want to look 'open to the possibility of more' at all!" the elf paced up and down the length of the small bathroom, idly considering climbing the walls to give him more room to vent his tension. "...But...I'm not going to change clothes in front of you. You can just phase things in, ja?"

"Oh, please, Kurt!" Kitty rolled her eyes. "I'm asking you to change clothes, not to strip naked...you'd still have your underpants on."

"But only meine underpants, ja?" Kurt pointed out, stopping to lean against the bathroom door.

"So? Me seeing you in your boxers is the same as me seeing you in your swimming trunks..."

"Except when I have my swimming trunks on, you're almost always in a bikini..." The elf's voice came teasingly this time as he entertained a devilish smirk.

"...Well, I'm not stripping down so you can change clothes." Kitty's hands appeared through the door, and Kurt stepped back to receive the outfit she was passing through to him. "Don't know why I'm arguing with you anyway..."

Kurt began to change, abandoning his usual garb and putting on the shirt and pants Kitty's had dug out for him. "That should be obvious...you know you want to see me almost-naked."

"...Hardly. Evil elf." Kitty grumbled. "Now step out and let me see how that looks..."

Kurt obliged her, and she shook her head, quickly forcing another pair of pants and shirt into his hands. "No, no...try that, 'kay?"

The cycle continued...she handed him and outfit, he changed into it, and she inevitably shook her head and proclaimed it unfitting for the occasion, until, finally, the clock told him that he had five minutes to get to the Brotherhood Boarding House. Well, actually, he had five minutes until he safely _could _be at the Brotherhood Boarding house, but his mind wasn't functioning exactly right under all the stress. Which, really, wasn't quite reassuring. _Ja, you can fight Juggernaut and barely break a sweat, but you all but wet yourself like a babyover meeting a girl. Very brave, Wagner. Even if it **is **Wanda._

"Look, Katzchen...I need to get going if I want to be on time...Do I at least look decent?" Kurt pointed his thumb towards his door, stepping out in the latest of her clothing combinations to regard with horror the mess Kitty had made of his room. "...Meine Gott. You are going to pick all this up, right?"

"Sure, Fuzzy." Kitty rolled her eyes, before stepping closer to look him over. "...Fine, you look alright. Get going..." She waved him off after a brief tug of encouragement on his shirt, and Kurt grinned graciously and disappeared, out past the Xavier Mansion's gates.

The elf wandered up outside of the Brotherhood Boarding House just as the band of boys that made up that Brotherhood wandered out and into Lance's jeep...driving off in (luckily) the opposite direction as Kurt. He waited, hidden behind the bushes until the tail-lights had been long gone, before finally creeping up towards the door and knocking. Wanda made her way to the door quickly enough, opening it to regard him with a slight...and slightly wicked...smile.

"Oh...there you are...well? Coming in?"


End file.
